How to Find Out Your Net WorthThankfully, your net worth takes more into consideration than just your paycheck. A good definition of net worth is the value of all assets, minus the total of all liabilities. Put another way, net worth is what you own minus what you owe. Generally speaking, this is why your net worth increases over time, due to the fact that you?ll owe less and less on the debts you pay. When determining your net worth, start by making a thorough list of what you own and what you owe. What You Own Home (its current value) Other real estate Automobiles and other vehicles like RVs and ATVs (leased vehicles don?t count) Jewelry and collectibles Household items, like furniture, appliances, etc. Retirement accounts, bonds, stocks, mutual funds Cash value of life insurance The balance of checking and savings accounts Cash What You Owe Home mortgage principal Other mortgage principal Auto loans Student loans Credit card debt Other loans Once you have all of these items in order, you?ll next plug this information into an online net worth calculator. http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/networth/networth.html http://www.creditcardfinder.com.au/net-worth How to Track Your Net WorthNow that you know your net worth, you can use a spreadsheet tool to keep track of its growth–in a similar way to how you keep track of your monthly budget. Here are four ways that tracking your net worth can benefit your financial situation. Financial Progress: We all want to evolve and progress in anything in life, it?s human nature. It’s even better when you grow your money and can look back to the month or year previous and see how far you’ve come. Confidence Builder: For example, if you saved an extra $1,000 in your emergency fund or watch your 401K increase due to a bigger contribution, it will make you feel proud of what you?ve been able to accomplish. Avoid focusing on just assets: If you have 200K in assets but 100K in debt, you?re just lying to yourself. It’s important to factor both into the calculation. Loans: Your net worth can be a factor if you plan on applying for a loan in the near future. In the same way that it?s beneficial to keep track of your personal net worth, there are benefits to keeping track of your company?s assets. The average SMB likely needs more than a calculator and a spreadsheet to do this, which is why there are so many enterprise-level accounting solutions on the market. To learn more about what?s available for your accounting department and how technology can further your company?s goals, give us a call at (603) 889-0800. P.S. Some businesses struggle to reliably budget out their IT, especially with surprise bills when technology goes down and unexpected updates need to take place. If you are frustrated with the unforeseen nature of your current IT, reach out to White Mountain IT Services to discuss a managed, proactive approach.
When there is a change in IT Support staff that has access to your IT management systems and passwords it is important to quickly revoke access, change passwords review your security systems. We suggest having a lock-down procedure in place to guide you through the process and ensure that nothing is missed. In addition to the obvious things like keys to building and passwords, here are a few other items to be sure you consider; Firewall administrator access Domain name registration accounts Email and web hosting accounts All remote access and VPN software Change the Point of Contact records for all vendors like the phone company, internet provider, etc. All online, cloud, or hosted services Let all employees know about the change, even the branch offices! Encryption keys and passwords for backups Remove them from all internal email distribution lists Access control and security systems Of course, this is all much easier if you have professional IT management systems in place so that everything is fully documented before you need to change it. When the only person who knows what to change, and how to change it is the one who just left, it can be a daunting task. If you want help getting in front of this, before it becomes an emergency, or if you are currently in need of an emergency lock-down, give us a call. At White Mountain, we make changing IT Service vendors EASY! Thanks for visiting, we look forward to hearing from you. Frequently Asked Questions Here are some common questions that we hear from companies your size. What is involved with a lock-down procedure? What types of things should be documented? What is a comprehensive data backup system? What should be included in an Acceptable Use Policy? What are employee onboarding and separation procedures? My IT person is the only one that knows my systems, won’t it be painful to switch? I have a dispute with my current IT provider, can you help me lock them out? OK, I want to know more, what’s the next step?
One of the keys to being able to efficiently manage, support and use your IT systems is standardized documentation. At White Mountain, we utilize a secure, state of the art database for documentation and client SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures). As we implement, manage and support your systems we are continuously referencing and updating the documentation that outlines what we did and how we did it. The goal is to empower the support team to be as efficient as possible and to avoid depending on a single individual for critical information or knowledge. Ensuring a high level of efficiency and responsiveness on our end, allows us to keep your costs down, and productivity up. Having a professional Managed Service Provider supporting your business provides exponentially more value than a single employee or very small IT provider. Here are a few of the things that should be included in your IT documentation: Network diagram and floor-plan ISP and circuit info Inventory of all software and hardware Complete documentation of servers Security profile of data, share and user group access Data backup requirements and system configuration User census and profile Firewall configuration and security profile Remote access configuration Third-party vendor information and much, much more! At White Mountain, we make changing IT vendors EASY! Thanks for visiting, we look forward to hearing from you. Frequently Asked Questions Here are some common questions that we hear from companies your size. What is involved with a lock-down procedure? What types of things should be documented? What is a comprehensive data backup system? What should be included in an Acceptable Use Policy? What are employee onboarding and separation procedures? My IT person is the only one that knows my systems, won’t it be painful to switch? I have a dispute with my current IT provider, can you help me lock them out? OK, I want to know more, what’s the next step?
We believe that there should be multiple levels of backup for all company data. When using modern backup, synchronization and virtualization tools, there is really no excuse for data loss, even small businesses can afford to have a robust backup platform. Having said that, we understand that every situation is different and all budgets are certainly not equal, but here are a few guidelines that we like to consider. All servers should be backed up at a minimum of once per day with a copy of everything streaming to a secure off-site location. Servers should be completely imaged, or better yet virtualized, to allow for easy restores or live fail-over to different hardware or even to a different location. Desktop computers and laptops should also be imaged to minimize downtime when a hard drive fails, this way all updates, installed software, and drivers are preserved and ready to go with a simple restore. There is no reason to have to rebuild a computer and reload everything from scratch just because a hard drive failed. Laptops should also have a live file-backup running that will allow changed files to stream to the cloud while you are on the road, or out of the office. At White Mountain, we make changing IT vendors EASY! Thanks for visiting, we look forward to hearing from you. Frequently Asked Questions Here are some common questions that we hear from companies your size. What is involved with a lock-down procedure? What types of things should be documented? What is a comprehensive data backup system? What should be included in an Acceptable Use Policy? What are employee onboarding and separation procedures? My IT person is the only one that knows my systems, won’t it be painful to switch? I have a dispute with my current IT provider, can you help me lock them out? OK, I want to know more, what’s the next step?
When we bring on a new client, we create a document that outlines all of the steps and tasks required to get a new employee set up in their organization. Creating a step by step procedure and checklist helps ensure that the process is handled the same way every time and that nothing is missed. Sometimes we end up with a base procedure, that we will apply to all employees, as well as a departmental procedure, that will be applied only to staff working in that department. We work closely with your management team to ensure that new employees have a smooth first day, as well as to protect the business when there is an unexpected employee separation. In Addition to a detailed on-boarding procedure, here are a few of the IT related things that should be documented for all employees: General description of workflow, function, and role List of devices used and software used List of hosted systems that each user has access to Description of server, and data access requirements (folders, files & shares) Company-owned devices that each employee has possession of (laptop, tablet, smartphone) Any remote access accounts, VPN accounts, or other forms of remote access to company data Physical access controls like key fobs or mechanical keys At White Mountain, we make changing IT vendors EASY! Thanks for visiting, we look forward to hearing from you. Frequently Asked Questions Here are some common questions that we hear from companies your size. What is involved with a lock-down procedure? What types of things should be documented? What is a comprehensive data backup system? What should be included in an Acceptable Use Policy? What are employee onboarding and separation procedures? My IT person is the only one that knows my systems, won’t it be painful to switch? I have a dispute with my current IT provider, can you help me lock them out? OK, I want to know more, what’s the next step?
